


something about him

by nohyukc



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Football | Soccer Player Mark Lee (NCT), M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, One Shot, hahaha anyway smash the like button n subscribe, i mean kudos. Pls kudos i’m tryna eat w the lights on, i thot lumarkers died. so, lumark, markhei, they do the gay hand comparison thing, unless u guys want more but idfk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2020-10-04 15:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20473286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nohyukc/pseuds/nohyukc
Summary: yukhei wants to compare hand sizes with mark in the locker room before soccer practice





	1. Chapter 1

"hey mark," yukhei says sweetly, the last syllable rolling off the tip of his tongue with ease.

mark, terribly suspicious of the tone he's using, raises a brow. he continues to pull his athletic underarmor socks right under his left knee, "yeah?"

he doesn't dare to look at yukhei when he's speaking like that. it's dangerous, he claims.

"gimme your hand."

"what?" mark squeaks as he sniffs the other sock before he ultimately decides to yank it on his other leg. after, he cautiously scoots two inches away from the older on the beige locker room bench, eyes casting down at his neon green soccer cleats. "why?"

feeling even tinier than usual, when yukhei's gaze averts to the way his left hand begins to pinch the skin of his right forearm. (a nervous tick he has, most commonly occurs when he's around yukhei.)

he just grins, not thinking much of how timid mark's beginning to get. not thinking much of how pink mark's face is getting as he fills the gap between them, scooting even closer than before. "just gimme your hand!"

"gah, you're gonna pull one of those dumb tricks on me," mark rolls his eyes, chuckling nervously. his hand finds his way to his earlobe next, pulling on it until it matches the shade of his face. maybe a shade darker. (another nervous tick he gets around yukhei.)

yukhei fake gasps, putting his giant hand on his chest. "c’mon man, i'm not donghyuck!"

"you are on some days!" mark squints, blabbering on. "did he give you that hand thingy you strap on your palm? where you go up to people and shake their hand and it zaps them and it hurts really really really bad?"

it's yukhei's turn to giggle. well, not really. yukhei's laugh is more like a literal loud Hahaha! but in the best way. always in the best way.

"dude, you're so paranoid! i swear i'm not up to anything bad. i'm just curious about sumn..." yukhei reaches up to adjust his navy blue nike headband swiftly and smiles at mark all pretty again. oh god, mark thinks, why is he doing that?

he feels like he's going to die. then yukhei reaches over to hold mark's wrist with one hand to place their palms flat against eachother's, restricting mark from yanking it back like he wants to. well, half wants to. he's enjoying it but also not very much, because his heart feels like it’s trying to climb its way up his throat and hop right into yukhei’s lap.

he thinks oh man, is this what an aneurysm feels like? or, umm, a heart attack? maybe cardiac arrest? he doesn't know, he never paid attention in health. yukhei hums cheerily, concentrating intently on their hands.

there's not much information to gain from doing this, mark thinks. there's just a huge size difference, it's like a bear paw in contrast to a puppy paw. but yukhei's narrowing his eyes and he juts out his bottom lip. mark thinks it's cute.

the thought of whipping out his android to snap a picture of yukhei brushes came to mind. he thinks it would look good in a picture frame on his desk from ikea, too. but donghyuck, jaemin, and renjun would never let him hear the end of it. they'll say something about how the quality's shitty and how he's whipped. whatever that means. he doesn't get the slang these days.

growing nervous and unbelievably sweaty by the second, even though they haven't done any of the drills the crazy soccer coach puts them through yet. (which yukhei breezes through... mark, somewhat.)

mark chews on his lip. all of a sudden, he grows aware that he hasn't cut his nails in a week. neither did he moisturize and for fuck's sake, he can't remember the last time he received a manicure. he prays yukhei doesn't notice. nobody wants a guy with fucked up hands.

well, unless that's what yukhei's into. gosh. in that case, hopefully yukhei likes that.

after what feels like forever, yukhei nods, reaching a conclusion: "bro, you have baby hands."

"dude. are you shitting me? it took you a whole minute to confirm that?" mark sighs, embarrassed.

"yeah, pretty much," yukhei smiles sheepishly, interlocking their hands together. he swings it back and forth, playing around. his tone gets softer, quieter even though they're the only people in the locker room. "i was looking at them a lot during yesterday's practice when we were practicing punting."

"you were? pff, stop playin’!” he lets go of yukhei's hand, shaking his head. 

"no, i really was! your hands are pretty... and soft."

"that's kinda gay." (mark hopes he doesn't go "no homo" on him. please. Please.)

yukhei pauses for a moment, face blank. "wait, it is?"

“yeah, man," mark nervously laughs as he reaches for his thermos filled with glacier freeze flavored gatorade, unscrews the lid and gulps down half of it in one go.

then yukhei goes "oh! well, cool."

mark almost chokes on his gatorade, standing up, getting whiplash from the quick movement. "cool?"

"yeah," he rubs the back of his neck shyly, focusing on lacing his cleats up. there's a long pause again until yukhei stands up, does the :] face, swings his duffel bag over his shoulder and clears his throat. "i guess i'm gay then," and turns to exit the locker room.

"oh, hahaha, cool,” mark smiles. then it hits him. his hands, even clammier now, yanking at the mop of black hair on his head.

“w-wait, what?” blinking rapidly, he begins to jog after yukhei’s retreating figure.

“yo, you can't just leave?! what just happened?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inspired by yukhei telling mark that he has "chicken hands" but not really. like. i watched dat video recently n i went. woah... what if. i wrote a fic lowkey inspired from it except yukhei doesn't know it's a gay thing to do and then mark's a gay mess and then yukhei kinda. realises quietly. hey? mark's kinda cute i'd kiss dat foo! n then mark's like Holy Shite/???? we gay together or wat? 
> 
> so hyeah this is wat came from me wanting soccer hand comparing lumark! i’m 96% sure i’ll write a second chapter.... or a whole separate longer More Planned rewrite because i jus got some new ideas on add on with it?
> 
> anyways yeah bye have a good one!! stay safe :p


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the 6 month wait! i kinda drifted before finally deciding to continue this. plus i'm going to be a lil bored for the next three weeks and... mark n yukhei hit different so ;p
> 
> the parentheses mean dat it's like. a lowkey flashback. yes? yes
> 
> basically this is jus. crack... n... me beating around the bush and they are beating around the bush and also yukhei looking at marks buns. Thanks

mark is sweaty.

partaking in mild physical activity for over five minutes has him sweating like he just returned from the sahana desert. his hands aren't dismissed from the excess of sweat either, the cause being yukhei's existence.

no, it’s not like he really struggles during soccer drills. he has toned arms and legs for days, and he will never allow himself skip leg day. even if he ends up breaking his leg someday, he will crawl over to the gym to complete his four sets of 10 reps of leg presses.  


his soccer teammate renjun has this strong belief that god had to give mark the excessive sweating gene because it wouldn’t be fair that mark had everything else going for him.

(in which mark would roll his eyes and scoff out a purely oblivious “what is that supposed to mean?” thus resulting in renjun putting him in a chokehold.

"yah, you idiot!" renjun huffs, grappling him to the floor in a matter of seconds. 

mark's eyes are popping out of his skull as renjun's scrawny arms hold him loosely, shaking the older around exaggeratedly. his hands immediately clutching onto renjun's wrists to have some sense of stability.

no matter how many times renjun does this on a weekly basis without warning, he screams for the entire duration.  


in the background, donghyuck pumps his fist in the air, chanting a "fight! fight! fight!" whilst taking his phone out from his pocket to start recording. he pledges that at the end of the year, he's going to put together a compilation of "markren chokehold clips" insisting that it's solely for sentimental purposes, not blackmail.

mark dreads finding the promised compilation being shared on all social media platforms as a new years gift from donghyuck.)  


mark especially dreads soccer drills. 

he tries to avoid yukhei during practice, often surrounding himself with renjun and donghyuck in hopes of "limiting all necessary distractions" even though everyone knows it's code for "yukhei is so hot i can't look at him for more than a nanosecond otherwise i'll trip over air on the field and then fall on my face and then he's going to come up to me and help me up like the nice person he is and ask me if i'm ok and i'll pass out and then i'm going to punish myself and not look at him for an entire week" also known as mark's worst case scenario which happens at least once every two months.  


yukhei and mark are on the same level of painfully oblivious about everything. especially when it comes to each other.  their friends, who are extremely impatient yet mildly entertained with how the two of them pine over each other, tend to leave them be until they figure it out on their own. 

and  sometimes, they assume that their mutual unawareness is the reason why they're meant to be. 

yukhei, the more obvious of the two, shamelessly stares at mark throughout practice and even real games. exhibit a being this drill in particular. 

"hello? earth to yukhei?" yangyang groans, waving a steady hand in front of yukhei's face. hendery comes up behind the gentle giant and pokes his side, earning a whiny "ow, what was that for?!" from yukhei and a series of giggles from the youngest.  


"you're drooling over _him_ again," hendery mutters exasperatedly, eyes shooting across the field to see if donghyuck was spying.  he can see the knowing smirk on his face from 15 feet away before he leans over to mark and whispers something in his ear. and now both of them are looking this direction. _oh god._  


ten joins the fun, eyebrows raising in acknowledgement while fighting back an amused grin. "were you really staring at mark's ass while he was doing lunges?"

"oh my god, is that what you were looking at?!" yangyang exclaims as hendery's hand flies up to his mouth to keep from snickering. "that's disgusting!"

yukhei's body wastes no more time lowering into the lunge position to blend in with the rest of his teammates. he breaks into a sheepish smile before he shushes them, "shuddup! you guys act like you don't stare at people's asses too!"

"we don't _stare_, we glance!" hendery corrects.

"to be fair, his ass is literally popping out! how am i not supposed to look over?"

"how is that fair?" ten lectures. "i thought i taught you consent!"

"it's free real estate?" yukhei suggests with flushed cheeks before quickly changing the subject. "whatever! you guys should be proud of me because i practically confessed to him earlier. i was like. 'mark i'm gay for you,' and he was like 'oh, cool!' so there's no hiding anything anymore!"

yangyang, hendery and ten all collectively stare at him for what feels like forever. yukhei feels like he's shrinking. "what?'

"oh, nothing. it's just that 'oh, cool' doesn't seem like a very mark thing to say..." hendery snaps himself out of his daze, thanks to coach yuta blowing his whistle and bellowing a "break!" before retreating inside the locker room. some of the sweaty bodies follow him inside.

"yeah man, you're capping!" yangyang accuses. "you probably said something like more complicated and then he didn't understand fully. otherwise you guys would've ditched practice to go eat each other's faces in the showers or something!"

hendery snorts. ten slaps his hand over yangyang's mouth and pinching his arm, huffing out profanities in chinese. "ah, ah, ah!" yangyang shrieks.

yukhei feels like he's dying of embarrassment and of the heat. both literally and figuratively. unhelpful imagery is fogging up his mind at the comment. ten continues yangyang's train of thoughts. "yukhei, you just gotta tell him straight up."

"but mark doesn't like me!"

"shush!" hendery says.

"but he doesn't! i weird him out." yukhei sighs, wiping off some of the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand.

"dude, shut up." hendery warns.

"bro, stop it. i come off too strong, y'know it!"

muffled by ten's hand, yangyang starts screeching and pointing behind yukhei. confused, the brunette turns around to find mark standing behind him. renjun and donghyuck are unnaturally not joined at the hip with the boy, rather watching from the bench nearby. obviously knowing something he doesn't. his stomach twists.

mark's arm is extended as if he was about to tap on his shoulder himself to make his presence known. he lets out a little "oh!" and drops his arm back to his side quickly. he starts pinching at his arm gingerly. all rehearsed scripts were left behind.

"ah, mark!" yukhei's voice is unusually high pitched, eyes growing wide. panicking just a bit, he wonders how much of the conversation mark heard. he hopes he didn't hear about how he likes looking at his ass. all nerves put aside, yukhei can't help but smile like an idiot seeing mark. even if he's sweaty.

he clears his throat, acting composed. "wassup?"

mark returns the grin wholeheartedly. everytime he beams, his entire face scrunches up prettily: cheekbones rising, eyelashes fluttering, a small chuckle coming from in between his teeth. "nothing much, you?" yukhei feels like he is melting into the floor.

ten removes his hand from yangyang's mouth, massaging his temples again. yangyang mumbles a "why are they reciting all dry texting convos in real life?" to hendery. he can only shrug in reply, mark and yukhei being in their own little world at the moment.

"nothing either, just talking to your cute ass," yukhei blurts out flirtatiously. a pink hue travels up mark's neck to his cheeks.

"i, uhm-" mark coughs, trying to come up with a reply.

"talking, or staring?!" donghyuck barks from the bench. renjun shoves him off the bench, looking at mark apologetically. mark covers his face, groaning.

yukhei is undoubtedly melting into the floor now. he looks mortified. he turns around to ten and mumbles some song requests for his funeral. "please play dababy's 'vibez' and 'toes' and 'panini' and-"

mark bashfully grabs ahold of yukhei's hand, yanking his hand towards him so he gets his attention.

"yukhei. hey, look at me." his gaze grows serious, voice unwavering. yukhei obeys his command, a little enticed. he would never really admit it, but he is awfully attracted to this side of mark. capturing his undivided attention, mark rolls his shoulders, straightening up. he doesn't avert his eyes from yukhei's caramel ones.

he fills in the gaps between their fingers with his own. "i'm sorry about my friend, he's an ass sometimes but," mark sinks his index finger into the collar of his soccer uniform, airing it out, finally glancing down. yukhei uses the opportunity to take a breath of fresh air. his entire body felt like it was frozen in place.

"ugh, lemme just be straightforward. i did catch you looking at my ass earlier," mark admits, his giggles replacing the tension in the air. his cheekbones lift up to meet his usual timid eyes. his voice grows softer, warm and understanding.

"and i do want a clear answer on what you meant in the locker room..." he starts playing with yukhei's big hand, stretching out their fingers. "i just think it's time for us to have an actual conversation about, like, everything. don't you think?"

nearly everyone is aware of the elephant in the room. now, even they know.

yukhei starts beaming, like mark is the sun and he's just one of the many planets that orbit around him. one of the many planets that are able to exist because of him. mark looks up at him, waiting on a response. they will always meet each other in the middle.

"yeah, i'd really like that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly i don know why i had to make this chapter so frustrating but markhei is so cute.
> 
> thanks fo reading! and/or catching up on this even though this chapter was terribly delayed :] 
> 
> im tryna think of more markhei fics to pull outta my butt rn before writers block hits again


End file.
